Based in the Wood Centre for Innovation, AI accelerator start-up Lumai has just secured nearly £8 million in investment.
The company is using optics to address global computational challenges. Their technology will help AI data centres dramatically reduce costs and boost performance while minimising energy consumption.
The latest funding round was led by VC investor Constructor Capital and supported by existing investor IP Group, alongside new investors PhotonVentures, Journey Ventures, LIFTT, Quibits Ventures, State Farm Ventures and TIS Inc. Lumai will use this investment to support its next stage of growth – advancing product development, doubling its team and expanding its US presence.
The investment comes at a pivotal time for the industry as power-hungry AI models and the drive to artificial intelligence are pushing silicon-based computing to its limits. With data centre power use in the US expected to triple by 2028, consuming up to 12% of the country’s power, the time is right to address the performance and sustainability challenges of this exponential growth.
Spun out of the University of Oxford, Lumai is tackling the limitations of AI computing by using optical processing to accelerate large language models and other transformer-based AI. Lumai has overcome the scalability challenges of optical computing. Its technology processes AI’s core arithmetic operations within optical beams travelling through 3D space, bypassing the limits of silicon GPUs and integrated photonics. By utilising low-cost optical components, the PCIe form factor enables cost-effective, high-performance AI interference, positioning Lumai as a key enabler of AI’s future.
Lumai’s technology has succeed in overcoming the scalability challenges of optical computing, positioning the company as a key enabler of the future of AI. Its unique design will deliver 50 times the performance of silicon-only accelerators, while just using 10% of the power required for AI in data centres, lowering capital costs.
Tim Weil, CEO and co-founder at Lumai says: “The future of AI demands radical breakthroughs in computing. The cost of the current LLMs (large language models) is unsustainable, and next generation AI won’t happen without a major shift. Lumai’s innovative optical computing design overcomes the scalability challenges that have held others back and dramatically reduces power consumption which will drive down the cost of AI.”
This latest backing from investors reflects the growing confidence in Lumai’s technology and market potential.
Congratulations, Lumai. We wish them the very best of luck in the next stage of their growth.
